Uncomfortable Lessons

Life has a way of offering up lessons that we need to learn. These are lessons that perhaps we don’t want to learn, hence the learning experience can be uncomfortable, even painful.

A couple of weeks ago, I fell off one of my horses due to a riding error on my part. Actually, there were a couple of errors, the second of which was not taking into account that the first occurred. I certainly make mistakes all the time, but it’s been a very long time, at least a decade, since I made an error that led to getting launched onto the ground.

It’s quite different to fall because of your mistake rather than something that’s not inyour control, such as your horse spinning or tripping. It makes you think hard, and question yourself. It’s uncomfortable.

In short, lessons have presented themselves to me. I’ll share some of them with you, with the hope that they will be useful to you as well.

First, self compassion is an essential tool in the mental/emotional toolbox. While I hold myself to a very high standard in all that I do, I’m not perfect. I’m human, and I make mistakes. I have some ideas about the roots of this particular mistake, and I’m using that understanding to support some different practices. The first practice is to be more compassionate with myself and mindful of my mental and emotional state.

Patience is another lesson staring me in the face. While I’m patient with my horses and with others, not so much with myself. I’m terrific at pushing through or leading a charge, but sometimes the answer is not pushing through, but rather, being patient with a process that needs to unfold.

Along with patience, it’s important to take a breath and give yourself some extra (mental/emotional) room. Those of you who work with me have heard me say repeatedly: take a breath and create space for yourself. That mindful breath has a way of slowing time down and allowing yourself space and time to get grounded and regrouped. Certainly, this is a lesson for me to be reminded of.

Everything is one step at a time. No matter where we’re headed, or what level we ride, the execution is in the present, one stride at a time.

Lastly for now, you have probably heard me say: lean into the fear, lean into the discomfort. Get to know it, get friendly with it—that’s the only way to learn about it and transform it into something meaningful.

So, dear friends, take a breath, lean into it, and go after it! I’m right there with you.